President Barack Obama promises clear-eyed talks with Iran

President Barack Obama assured Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Monday he will be "clear eyed" in talks with Iran.

The Israeli leader, meeting with Mr Obama at the White House, insisted that Iran's "military nuclear program" must be dismantled and called for maintaining or strengthening sanctions on Tehran. "We take no options off the table, including military options," Obama said.

Mr Netanyahu says he appreciates U.S. sanctions on Iran in light of global concerns about its nuclear program. He says for diplomacy to work, quote, "those pressures must be kept in place" since Iran remains committed to Israel's destruction.

Mr Netanyahu spoke during an Oval Office meeting Monday with Obama. The meeting comes just days after Obama's historic phone call with new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Mr Netanyahu has been warning the U.S. against equating Rouhani's more moderate rhetoric with substantive changes in Iran's nuclear policy. Israel considers a nuclear-armed Iran to be an existential threat. Iran denies that it is seeking nuclear weapons.

Mr Obama, meanwhile, promised Netanyahu that the United States would be "clear eyed" in talks with Iran but that it had to "test" prospects for a breakthrough, though reserved the right to take military action against nuclear installations in Iran if diplomacy failed.

Mr Netanyahu warned that Iran was committed to Israel's destruction and that its words and actions should be judged with that in mind.

"The bottom line is that Iran fully dismantles its military nuclear programme," he said after over an hour of talks with Obama in the Oval Office.

Mr Netanyahu also argued that economic sanctions must be kept in force through any diplomatic process with Iran, which will resume next month in Geneva.

"Those pressures must be kept in place," he said. "In fact, if Iran continues to advance its nuclear program during negotiations, the sanctions should be strengthened."

President Obama credited the economic sanctions that have hammered Iran's economy with prompting its leaders to try a moreserious diplomatic process on the nuclear program, following his telephone call on Friday with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

"We have to test diplomacy, we have to see if in fact they are serious about their willingness to abide by international norms and international law," Obama said.

"We enter into these negotiations very clear eyed. They will not be easy."

Obama also made clear that he reserved the right to take military action against Iran.

"We take no options off the table, including military options," Obama said.